Champions Bounce Back Higher
The 2023 Lexington Open!
On Friday night, December 15th, the Lexington Tennis Club saw three proud champions emerge from early defeats to eventually raise their arms in victory.
In the Smooth Division, Sarah Shapiro and Kaylene Petrin reunited as a doubles team for the first time since their high school playing days. This fearsome duo didn’t immediately find their groove, losing in the round robin to perennial power Annalyn Gilchrist and Mike Babics. That defeat tested Shapiro and Petrin’s metal, and they rose to the occasion, besting upstart duo Rishi Gokhale and Marva Serotkin in a nail biting tiebreaker (8-6) that earned them a trip to the finals.
Shapiro and Petrin just like the old days!
Gilchrist and Babics enjoyed a great run to the division finals, but Shapiro and Petrin rediscovered their team chemistry and took the title. Some were saying that Babics may have picked up a heel injury in one of the later rounds, but he downplayed those rumors and gave full credit to the champs. Always a class act!
In the Cool Division, Terrence Lam and Erin Rumley hoisted the championship hardware. It’s been a long road to the winner’s circle for this pair, as they have been regulars in ACE events since the very first one (Medford Open 2022). Their experience in intense competition steeled them against despair even after a disappointing 0-6 opening round loss. Lesser competitors would have withered on the vine, but Lam and Rumley bounced back to avenge the loss.
Rumley and Lam bounce back and prevail!
The aforementioned 6-0 shellacking was at the hands of division finalists Lucie Gulino and Erin Whitney. These two up-and-comers had a great run in this event. After unapologetically bagelling the eventual champs, Gulino and Whitney bested Marinda Horan and Eliza Adams 4-2. This result nudged Horan and Adams out of the finals by the slimmest of margins, 1 point.
The final of the Rough Division also saw the tides turn on the round robin front runners. Victor Hu and Jerry Zhang ran away with the round robin, and met John Bonham Carter and Marc Weiskopf in the final. Weiskopf was buoyed by the support of his cheering family and Bonham-Carter seemed to use the wisdom of his age to overcome Zhang and Hu to take the championship in an exciting final.
Thus concluded our first ever LTC Open. This event was a tale of overcoming adversity and learning from defeat. Great lessons for all of us as we head into 2024!
Thanks for joining us. Looking forward to the next one!!!
